2 Comments:

1) They don't call him Teflon-Wang for nothing! While others(including his former partner in crime Sanjay Kumar) have faced indictments/jail time, Charles simply goes on unscathed. 2) He may have wisely jumped off the rat ship that was Computer Associates just in time to save his skin.2) Isles fans better hope it stays that way. As sad as it is to say, he is their last hope to retain that franchise on the Island

Isn't Wang the sole owner of the NYI franchise? What would happen if he gets jail time or something out of this? He'll obviously have to pay some amount of restitution as well, if this ends badly for him. That probably means he turns his properties (including NYI) into cash, then gives the cash away. This puts Wang into a position where he needs to unload the NYI fast, and he needs the most money he can get for it, which puts him in a terrible negotiating position. With Wang badly needing money, and other potential owners probably trying to get a bargain from a guy with absolutely no leverage, perhaps Balsillie enters the fray again and blows competiting bids out of the water? Wang would need the money bad enough, and obviously would have no NHL future to consider, that perhaps he and Balsillie would be willing to drag the entire thing through the courts to get their way.

I thought of that whole line of thought while I was coming around to this: What happens to the NYI if Wang gets jailed, but say he doesn't have to sell them off in order to pay his restitutions? If he is the sole owner, then in his absence, what happens? Does the NHL take control of the team (how would that work?)? Is Garth Snow in charge of everything until Wang can sell it off? I'm curious about the possible consequences of this.

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About Me

A sportswriter at The Globe and Mail, James covers the NHL and the game of hockey. He is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, a radio and TV analyst with TSN and was the NHL network manager at SB Nation from 2008 to 2010. A graduate of Thompson Rivers and Ryerson universities, James grew up in Kamloops, B.C. — one of Canada's great hockey cities — and was a season ticket holder in the Blazers' glory years.

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